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Scientific Method/Transcript
Transcript Text reads: The Mysteries of Life with Tim & Moby. Four plants on a table in front of a window. A dying plant is on the right, while the other three plants are thriving. Moby walks into the room. He smiles as he looks at the thriving plants. When he arrives at the dying plant, he frowns. Tim walks into the room. Tim is wearing a white tee shirt with a graphic of a clipboard. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Yeah, I know you’ve been watering it; I’m not sure what’s wrong. Tim reads from a typed letter. TIM: Dear Tim & Moby, what is the scientific method? From, Marci. The signature indicates that the letter writer is from Iowa. The video shows Tim and Moby standing at the table with the plants. Moby is holding the dying plant. TIM: The scientific method is the procedure scientists use to help explain why things happen the way they do. The video shows a close-up of Tim. TIM: When people are trying to understand the world around them, they often come across problems that they just don't know the answers to. This is where the logical step-by-step method of scientific problem solving comes into play. The video shows a close-up of the plant in Moby’s hands. TIM: Like Moby here. He seems to be having a problem with his plant. MOBY: Beep. The video shows Tim and Moby standing side-by-side behind the plants. Moby is holding the dying plant, and Tim is holding a notepad and pen. TIM: The first step in scientific problem solving is to recognize the problem. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Right. The video shows a close-up of what Tim has written on the notepad. The word, “PROBLEM,” appears at the top of the page. Tim summarizes the problem. TIM: The plant is dying even though it’s getting water every day. Why? The video shows a close-up of Tim and, in the background, Moby is holding a watering can. Tim raises his notepad up. TIM: To solve this problem, we first need to understand what we already know. MOBY: Beep. The video shows the notepad again. The text reads, “STUFF WE ALREADY KNOW:” Tim writes the first fact on the notepad. TIM: Okay, “Plants need water.” The video returns to the close-up of Tim with Moby in the background. TIM: What kind of plant is that? MOBY: Beep. TIM: Fig tree. Right. The video shows a close-up of the dying plant on the table. TIM: Now we need to make some observations about the plant. The leaves are brown and falling off, and the soil is… The video shows Moby’s finger dipping into the soil of the dying plant. MOBY: Beep. Tim writes on the notepad with a pencil. TIM: Wet and squishy. Next, we make an inference. An inference is a conclusion about our observations. The video shows the dying plant on the right of the screen and a partial view of Moby’s body as he waters the plant. TIM: From what we've observed, we could infer that Moby is watering his plant too much. The video shows Tim in the foreground, writing on the notepad. Moby is in the background holding the dying plant. TIM: Now we translate our inference into a hypothesis. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Well, a hypothesis is a testable explanation for the details you observe. The video shows a close-up of the notepad with the word “HYPOTHESIS” in all caps. Tim reads the hypothesis from the notepad. TIM: What about “Fig plants do best if you only water them once a week.” MOBY: Beep. The video shows Tim in the foreground with the notepad and Moby in the background holding the dying plant. TIM: Sure, it's just a guess, but after our observations, at least it's an educated guess. We’ll need to come up with an experiment to test this hypothesis. The video shows four potted plants on a table in front of the window. The plants are labeled Upper A, Upper B, Upper C, and Upper D from left to right respectively. TIM: Here’s the plan: We've got four healthy fig plants, marked A, B, C, and D. One by one, an arrow points to each of the plants. TIM: They have the same type of pot, the same soil, and they're getting the same amount of sunlight. The only variable, or thing that changes, will be the amount of water they receive. Plant A will not be watered at all; Plant B will be watered every day; Plant C will be watered three times a week; and Plant D will be watered just once a week. A water drop appears above each of the Plants Upper B, Upper C, and Upper D. No drop appears above Plant Upper A. TIM: We’ll check back in a month to see what’s happened. The scene changes to a white background. The words “ONE MONTH LATER…” appear on the screen. The scene changes back to show Tim and Moby behind the table with the plants. TIM: Whaddya know; it’s been a month . . . and I'm still wearing the same shirt. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Let's record some new observations. The video shows a close-up of plant A. The plant is all brown. TIM: Huh, plant A doesn’t look too good. The video shows a close-up of Plant Upper B. The plant is almost all brown. TIM: Plant Upper B doesn’t look so hot either. The video shows a close-up of Plant Upper C. The plant is mostly olive green. TIM: Mmm, plant Upper C looks a little better. The video shows a close-up of plant Upper D. The plant is a vibrant green color. TIM: Whoa there, plant Upper D is doing all right. The video shows a close-up of the notepad. Stick figure plants are drawn on the left next to the data for each plant. The text on the notepad reads, “A: not at all, B: every day, C: three times a week, D: once a week.” TIM: Time to analyze our data. Hmm … Based on this experiment and our observations, it looks like the fig plant did best when it was only watered once a week. The video shows Tim holding his notepad and pen. TIM: From that, we can make a conclusion: The video shows the notepad. The word “CONCLUSION“ appears at the top of the page in all caps. Tim reads the conclusion. TIM: Of the four watering schedules we tested, fig plants seem to grow best when they're watered once a week. The video shows Moby smiling as he holds a thriving fig plant. MOBY: Beep. The video shows Tim’s hand holding up photos of other healthy fig plants. In the top two photos, the pots are labeled “E” and “F.” TIM: Well, yeah, to be really sure we should repeat this experiment several times, just to rule out accidents and variables we may have forgotten to consider. The video shows Tim holding the photos. TIM: If the experiments don't support the hypothesis, then the hypothesis has to be re-thought. Back to the drawing board, so to speak. The video shows the wooden table top. One-by-one, photos of potted plants appear on the table; some healthy, some not. The pots are labeled, each with a different letter of the alphabet. TIM: But if lots and lots of experiments do support the hypothesis, then that hypothesis can eventually become a theory. MOBY: Beep? The video briefly shows Moby holding the healthy fig. His lights flash as he beeps. The scene changes to show a scientist—in a lab coat—in front of a chalkboard that has words and drawings on it. She is standing next to a microscope, and she’s holding a clipboard in her hand. Another scientist walks into the room and stands by her as she peers into the microscope. TIM: Well, in science, a theory is an explanatory statement that’s been repeatedly confirmed through experimental testing. The video shows Tim in the foreground, and Moby is in the background, still holding the healthy fig plant. TIM: If a theory is proven valid over and over again, it becomes an accepted piece of scientific knowledge. In the strictest sense, there's really no such thing as scientific fact. The video shows a scientist in a lab coat, standing in front of a shelf with beakers full of liquid. The scientist is holding a magnifying glass, and in front of him is a container with a grey structure in it. The scientist raises the magnifying glass to his eye to look at the substance. A look of bewilderment overcomes the scientist. TIM: Scientists are always learning new things about the world around us, and you never know when they may find some new bit of evidence that forces us to redefine our understanding of the world. MOBY: Beep. The video shows Tim and Moby standing side-by-side in the greenhouse. Moby is still holding the healthy fig plant. TIM: Right, using the scientific method can help you be right more often, and not just in science class. The video zooms in on Tim. TIM: You just have to make sure you do all the steps. If you form a hypothesis without making any observations, then you really are just guessing. The video zooms out on Tim. TIM: And you'll never know if your hypothesis is true or not without testing it with an experiment! Moby walks into the room and slaps a piece of paper with tape on the front of Tim’s tee shirt. The paper has a big capital Upper “A” on it. Moby pours a glass of water over Tim’s head. Tim looks irritated. TIM: Grrr. Category:BrainPOP Science Transcripts Category:BrainPOP Transcripts